Caster.



PATENTED FEB. 18, 1908.

A. R. OAVIS.

CASTER.

APPLICATION FILED 00T.25,1907.

anuanloz "w; in coma iZ/EW Nor-nu;

,ADA a. oiv s, or carry,

ourran s'r airas ra'rnnr ornrcn KANSAS, ASSIGNQR OF ONE-HALF TO THE TODDHARDWARE &

SUPPLY 00., F CANEY, KANSAS.

cesium.

. Nam-9,519.

Specification of Letters Patent. Applicationfil October 25.1907. SerialNo. 399.146

Fatented Feb. 1'8, 1808.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ADA R. OAvIs, citizen of the United States, residingat Canek in the county'of Montgomery and State of of assuring a casterwheel assuming a posiand partly upper end or .head 0, for a tion in linewith the direction in which a piece of furniture is moved so as torender easy the .movement of the saidpiece of. furniture.

With the foregoing in mind the invention will be fully understood fromthe following description'and claims when the same are read inconnection with the drawings, accom panying and forming part of thisspecifica tion, in which:

Figure -1 is a view, partly in vertical section inelevation, of thecaster constituting the best practical embodiment of my inventionofwhich I am cognizant. Fig. 2 is an elevation of the socket comprised inthe caster. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken in the plane indicatedby the line 33 of Fig. l,looking downward, and: Fig. .4 is a perspectiveview of the washer of the caster, removed.

Similar letters designate corresponding arts in all of the views'of thedrawings, reerring to which:

A is apintle carrying a wheel a and having, by preference but notnecessarily, a reduced portion or neck 1) adjacent .to .its roundedpurpose presently set forth. I p o B is the socket of my im rovement.-Cis the anti-frictionball, and lathe washer, all of whichare designed tocooperate with the 'pintle Ain the manner hereinafter'pointed out indetail.

single blank of sheet-metal, preferably of spring steel of suitablethickness; and it is provided with a rounded upper end (i, a contractedintermediate portion e 'sposed about the proportional distanceillustrated below the upp ent portions the latter being by slits g whicextend from the o the socket to a oint adjacent to the upper separatedend thereof and eing provided at their lower The socket B is-made of. aI

er end, :and resiliwer end of ..ends with flanges h which are preferab yof U-sha e in .cross-se'ctiomFig. 1, and have their ower portionsdisposed horizontally, for a purpose which will presently appear.

In the rounded upper portion of the socket B is arranged theanti-frictiOn-ball C, and, as

will be readily observed, the rounded ,uppei' portion (1 of the socketand the ball 0 are of such proportional sizes that the ball .en-

abled to freely turn or roll in .said upper rtion. It will be noted,however, that the all C, which is preferably of steel, .is .pre-

vented from dropping out of the upper per-- tion of the socket by thecontracted inter- .mediate: ortion e of said socket, and from this itifoows that the socket Brand the ball C may be handled as one piece. Theicontracted intermediate portion e of .the socket B'also serves,- when apintle of theconstruction shown is employed, to engage the neck I) ofthe pintle and in that way prevent :the pintle from casually dro pingout of the socket when a piece of urniture is' lifted from the floor,and yet, as will the readily understood, a slight downward pull on thepintle A is all that is necessary to withdraw the pintle from thesocket. For the reasons stated, I prefer to employ a pintle having .aneck I), .but at this oint I desire it distinctly understood that w endesired the ordinary pintle-t. e., a pintle having a rounded upper endbut having no reduced ;porti0n.or neck I), may be employed in lieu ofthe pintle illustrated without involving departure from the scope of myinvention as claimed.

As best shown in Figs. 1 and 4;, the washer D is provided with a centralaperture 01 and also with a downwardly. disposed flange and an outwardlyextending horizontal flange k; the said angular formation at .the marginof the washer being calculated to lend stiffness and strength thereto.The flan e 7c of the washer, which is preferably of stee isdisposed inthe U-shaped flange h of and enabled to hold the pintle in a perfectlyupright position while permitting said pintle to freely turn on itsarms. Y H

My novel caster is adaptedto be used to advantagein pieces offurfnitureof various mama description, but is more especially designed for use inheavy pieces offurniture, since as ment of a piece of furniture, thewheel a or other anti-friction device carried by the pintle will assumea position in line with the direction of movement of the piece of furniture and will freely turn. This will be appreciated as a materialadvantage when it is remembered that it is the failure of the wheels ofordinary casters to assume a position in line with the direction ofmovement of pieces of furniture that causes such ordinary casters totear and damage carpets and other floor coverings.

In addition to the practical advantages hereinbefore ascribed to mynovel caster, it will be noted that the up er rounded and; of the pintleA and the ball C are inclose in the socket, and hence .their opposedsurfaces are not likely to be deteriorated by the collection thereon ofdust and moisture.

As before stated; the construction herein illustrated and describedconstitutes the best embodiment of my invention known to me, but it isobvious that in the future practice of the invention such changes ormodifications may be made as fairly fall within the scope of myinvention as defined in the claims appended.

Havin described my invention, what I claim an desire to secure byLetters-Patent, 1s:

1. The combination of a caster socket formed of a single piece ofresilient sheetmetal and having a rounded upper portion closed at its toa contracted intermediate portion and resi ient lower portions separatedy upright slips and also having flanges of U-shape in cross-section atthe lower ends of said resilient portions, an apertured washer having adownwardly extending flange and also having a horizontal flangeextending outward from the depending flange and disposed in the flangeson the resilient portions of the socket, an anti-friction ball, oflarger diameter than the said contracted portion of the socket, arrangedto turn in the rounded upper end portion of the socket, and a pintlecarrying a wheel and extending upward through the apertured washer andinto the socket and having. a rounded upper end opposed to theanti-friction ball "and also having a reduced portion disposed in thecontracted intermediate socket.

2. The combination of a caster socket having a rounded upper end portionclosed at its top and also having a contracted intermediate portion, ananti-friction ball, of larger diameter thah the said contractedportion,arranged to turn in the upper end portion of the socket, and a pintlecarrying a Wheel and arrangedin the socket and having a rounded upperend opposed to the antifriction ball and also having a reduced portiondisposed in the contracted intermediate portion of the socket.

3. -As an article of manufacture, a caster socket having a rounded u perend portion and a contracted interme iate portion and also having anapertured washer at its lower end and an anti-friction ball, of largerdiameter than the said contracted portion, arranged to turn in its saidrounded upper end portion.

4. The combination with a caster socket formed of a single piece ofresilient sheetmetal and having a rounded upper portion, a contractedintermediate portion and resilient portions separated by upright slitsand also having flanges of U-shape in crosssection at the lower ends ofsaid resilient portions of an' anti-friction ball of larger diameterthan the said contracted portion, arranged to freely turn in the saidupper end of the socket, and a washer provided with a central apertureand having its edge portion disposed in the flanges on the resilientportions of the socket.

5. The combination with a caster socket formed of a single piece ofresilient sheetmetal and having resilient portions separated by uprightslits and also having flanges of portion of the U-shape incross-sectionat the lower ends said resilient portions; of an apertured. washerhaving a downwardly extending flange and also having a horizontal flangeextending outward from the depending flange and disposed in the flangeson the resihent portions of the socket.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of twosubscribing Witnesses.

.ADA R. CAVIS. Witnesses:

J. W. EBY,

W. F. GLEEoK.

